1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to police equipment, specifically, this invention relates to equipment police are authorized to use to quell violent suspects, and more specifically, this invention relates to batons, or other static extended reach police devices.
2. State of the Art
Police have used batons, truncheons, clubs and the like for millennia for non-lethal control of suspects and to provide a visible indiction of authority. Starting no later than the nineteenth century police used the "billy-club," a two or three foot long hard wood club with a handle and a wrist strap for the police officer's convenience that also provided non-slip control of the weapon. A safety hazard existed with this strap. The hand could get twisted and caught in combat. These were the standard police issued baton until the mid-nineteen seventies when they were replaced in many departments with the PR-24 style baton. The PR-24 (.TM. Monadnock Life Time Products, Inc., Fitzwilliam, N. H. 03447) style baton is a length of metal tubing about two feet or so long and 1.5 or so inches in diameter that has a short perpendicular handle mounted about two thirds of the distance from the front of the weapon to the end. The perpendicular handle provides better leverage and control of the baton in violent combat or arrest situations. More recently, these batons have been replaced by the straight expandable baton in many departments and in various divisions of other departments. Expandable batons are conveniently sized items that, when retracted, can be placed in a police officers utility belt and do not create any impediment to the officer in the further performance of his other duties, but are always conveniently located for instant use, if the occasion demands.
When the PR-24 style baton came into use, all the tubing, including the horizontal handle and the ends of the tubing were all the same diameter. This lead to some problems in that the baton, once dropped in low lighting conditions was more difficult to identify for a proper grip to retrieve and use. So the ball-ended horizontal handle was developed. This development has eluded the straight expandable baton.
The great perceived advantage of straight expandable batons is their small size and convenient storage. Therefore, designers have avoided the use of anything that enlarges the diameter of the baton anywhere along the length of its collapsed handle. This reluctance has not stopped all designers who would try to use the end of a expandable baton as a point of attachment for utilities on the baton. The primary example of such an approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,839 issued to Nelson, which shows the use of a round enlarged end ball of an expandable baton to house a retraction and extension button for the baton. In actual use, such a device would be inadvisable since the baton needs two hands to utilize it and may be grabbed by violent perpetrators or may violently hit a surface, the ground or the like, and collapse or expand at an inadvisable time thereby causing injury to either or both of the officer and suspect.
There are many expandable batons, the Nelson baton, the Monadnock baton, and the A.S.P. baton--which is generally similar to the PR-24 baton. All of these batons must be drawn before they can be used at all. Inclement weather presents a problem for rapid and secure drawing of the weapon. These inclement conditions are those frequently encountered by law enforcement personnel. These conditions make it imperative that the officer be able to rapidly draw the baton and the second most important thing an officer must do after drawing the baton is extend the baton, and secure the extended sections before use. In the case of the Nelson baton, extension of the baton requires two hands, one to hold the shaft and one to activate the button. In realistic combat situations, the officer does not have the luxury of using both hands to extend the weapon, while warding off a potential attacker. In this regard the Monadnock and A.S.P. batons are better, since they require only one hand to draw and extend.
After the weapon is drawn, it must be used. During a physical confrontation, an officer may have to use less force than provided by a full swing of an extended weapon. The officer will also have to de-escalate the confrontation as the suspect is subdued. It would be advantageous to have a second striking surface that was less lethal and impacted less heavily on the suspect than the full swing of the baton. Here the Nelson baton suffers since it has internal parts that could malfunction if the baton was hit too vigorously.
During combat the baton may be inadvertently dropped by the officer. If this happens, it may roll away from the officer and leave him without a suitable weapon. The Nelson baton will not roll since its ball end will force the baton to `orbit`. However, both the Monadnock and A.S.P. weapons will roll, and may roll from the officer if they are dropped.
Another problem with conventional batons, is that they may be dropped by the officer during physical confrontation or pursuit. If this happens under poor illumination conditions, the officer must pick the weapon up using visual means or touch. The Monadnock and A.S.P. weapons do not allow the top or bottom ends of the baton to be readily determined by touch alone.
Even if the officer could find the dropped baton, in the case of the Monadnock or A.S.P. weapons, the officer would have some degree of difficulty grasping the baton with his fingers, since the baton would be laying flat on the surface.
Batons must be concealable during certain off-duty and plain clothes operations. Since a holster is usually visible even under clothes under some circumstances, an officer operating under these conditions may want to conceal the weapon in his waist band. However, the weapon must stay in his waist band and not slide downwardly under the influence of gravity. the Nelson baton provides a partial solution, but the rounded end may still allow the baton to wedge into his waist band and start to fall. Neither the Monadnock nor the A.S.P. weapon allow secure waist band holding, and they may slide downwardly almost at any time.
Officers must be able to rapidly acquire a weapon, in this case the expandable baton, that will provide them with as much safety as possible. the disadvantage of the Monadnock and A.S.P. systems is that without a bulb on the end of the weapon, the officers stiff fingers, caused by cold, or the officers moist and slippery fingers caused by warm conditions may allow the weapon to slip or otherwise be difficult to hold on to.
The weapon must be available for rapid deployment to the officers hand. The Nelson baton suffers from the shape of the bulb, it being round, and therefore more easily slipped from the officers hand. In the case of the Monadnock and A.S.P. batons, the batons have no raised end feature, and the baton may slip from the officers hand during deployment.
Therefore, there exists a need to have an expandable baton that has an enlarged end that will not affect the baton's function or its use, but will permit the baton to be readily recovered if dropped, will allow an officer to know instantly by feel alone in the darkest situation, or in a situation where the officer is rendered temporarily blinded by substances or the like, which end of the baton is the extended end, and will allow an officer to carry the baton around in its retracted state without undue excess burdens being placed on the officer's utility belt. Moreover, there is a need for a baton that will allow a more secure, less slip prone grip. so the deployed baton will not slip accidentally or as a result of force externally applied to it.